


Stepping Into Darkness

by Ninshadow



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Carrows Reign at Hogwarts, Dark Magic, Good Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Loss of Control, POV Ginny Weasley, Torture, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 17:36:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15977165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninshadow/pseuds/Ninshadow
Summary: 'Slowly, Ginny pulled out her wand. She looked at Neville, still unsure.“What are you wanting me to do, professor?”“A quick crucio ought to be enough!” Amycus said cheerfully, leaning back on his desk and watching the pair with interest.“But that's an unforgivable!” Ginny started, but the calm smile and nod Neville gave her allowed herself to take a deep breath. After what felt like forever, Ginny finally muttered, “Crucio.”Neville fell to the ground instantly, writhing and twisting around. Shocked, Ginny lowered her wand, cutting off the spell.“No, no, no. That just won't do. You have to mean it, miss Weasley. That was nowhere close to a punishment.” Amycus said, frowning slightly.From the ground Neville seemed to determinedly brace himself, giving Ginny another nod. “Just get it over with, Gin.”Squaring her shoulders, Ginny once again  pointed her wand at Neville. She thought about how much she resented Harry, her brother and Hermione, how much she hated Snape and the Carrows, how much Neville has been annoying her lately.. She let all of that build up until her arm was trembling. With more feeling, she shouted, “Crucio!”'





	Stepping Into Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little dark, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Ginny resented Harry for leaving her alone at Hogwarts. It was her sixth year, and she was scared. Snape and the Carrows had overrun the school, and not even professor McGonagall could help everyone. She was thankful that most of the teachers stuck around, and helped when they could, but seeing as the Carrows both taught classes, there was no escaping them. The members of Dumbledore’s Army that were still at the school kept meeting up in the Room of Requirement, which had turned into some sort of safe haven for those who needed it. 

Ginny, Neville and Luna all tried to go to classes together, along with anyone else from the DA. The more they had in numbers, the less the Slytherins and other students the Carrows recruited to do their dirty work would bother them. The biggest threat, was Crabbe and Goyle. No one saw Draco too much, it seemed he was always hiding in the shadows, only doing what was requested to keep him out of trouble.

Luna disappeared during Christmas. The whole DA was at a loss of where she could have went, but it was evident it wasn't willingly. The loss hit Ginny hard. Every day she had to go through her classes and school work made her resent everyone who wasn't there. At least they didn't have to be around all the dark arts and torture. Neville wouldn't quit talking about how soon Harry and the rest of the Golden Trio would come and rescue them, save the school and all that. Ginny knew better. It's not like Harry would rush the school wielding the Sword of Gryffindor and take out Snape and the Carrows. No, Ginny just had to suffer through it, hoping she would be strong enough to finish the school year. 

She was doing alright, keeping her head down and just getting through everything, like a robot. She was on autopilot with no end in sight. Ginny needed something to change, if it didn't she was sure she'd die of boredom. She stayed in her common room on weekends, or if she wanted company, she'd join the rest of the remaining DA in the Room of Requirement. Even that wasn't enough, she could feel herself growing more agitated by the day, only a minute from snapping. She knew that wasn't a good thing, being Ginny ‘bat-bogey hex’ Weasley, her snapping and losing control could be disastrous. 

Ginny took to avoiding Neville as much as humanly possible, his optimistic attitude about everything was almost sickening. She realised that when she was on her own more often than not, she ended up running into Malfoy more than she thought possible. Every time she saw him, he always had dark circles under his eyes, as if he was running on almost no sleep. Which, in an environment such as this, was entirely viable. What she never noticed however, was the worrying look he'd give her every time he noticed how stressed out she looked. He might never admit it, but Draco wanted the light to win the war, and with Ginny being a key player, her being distressed wasn't a good sign.

Finally, Ginny got a change. The sixth and seventh years had classes together, since there were so few students. Ginny had failed at avoiding Neville, he ended up jumping in the seat next to her before she knew what was happening. Resigned to go through yet another class with Neville being annoyingly bright for such a dreary place, Ginny took out her Dark Arts book, and stared at the pages intently, effectively blocking out Neville’s friendly chatter before professor Carrow joined them. 

The class, was as uninteresting as Ginny had assumed it'd be. She rested her head against her desk while Amycus described in detail how to torture your victim by killing them from the inside out. After a sharp elbow to her side, Ginny jumped awake. She glared at an apologetic looking Neville as he took in her appearance with a concerned look on his face.

“Chin up, Gin. We're only on our own till Harry gets here!” Neville whispered to her, a determined smile on his face.

“Just shut up Neville!” Ginny yelled, climbing out of her chair and facing him. “If you say one more thing about Harry I swear I'll --”

“Class dismissed, leave!” Amycus spoke up, waving his hand towards the door. “Weasley, Longbottom, you two stay.” He added, as they had started to gather their belongings. 

Ginny turned to Amycus, confused. Neville was looking away, taking glances towards the door as if he was contemplating making a run for it. The rest of the class quickly cleared out not wanting to get forced to stay any longer than they had to. 

Amycus was watching Ginny closely, almost predatory like. Just as she was starting to get uncomfortable he spoke up again.   
“Miss Weasley, finish your sentence.”

Thrown off guard, she let out an intelligent, “What?”

“What were you going to say to Longbottom?” He asked, watching her and twirling his wand in his hand. 

“Oh… You see professor, I'm just getting tired of hearing how everyone thinks Harry is just going to swoop in and save us, he's in hiding for all anyone knows, he might even be out of the country…” Ginny wasn't sure why she revealed her feelings, but she was still annoyed, so might as well get it all out.   
“I was going to say, if he says one more thing about Harry that I'd curse him, sir.”

Amycus seemed to consider this, “And did you mean it?”

“The cursing part, sir?”

“Yes.”

“If I got mad enough, probably. But I'm not really one for cursing friends unless I have good reason.”

“Why are we here?” Neville asked, starting to get anxious. 

“Well, you two interrupted my class, and it seems like it's because of you, mister Longbottom.” Amycus raised a brow to see if either student would deny this. They didn't.   
“So, one of you is going to have to be punished.” This time, Ginny and Neville both tried talking, but Amycus held up a hand to silence them.   
“Now, since Longbottom was the cause of this disturbance, he'll be the one receiving the punishment. However, I'd like miss Weasley to be the one to administer it.”

“You want me to punish Neville?” Ginny let out a laugh, “You do realise we're friends, right? I can't possibly hurt him!”

“Well.. If you don't want to do it, I don't mind being the one to do it. But, if I do it, it'll be ten times worse.” Amycus said with a smirk. 

“Ginny please, you can do this. Just do it and then we can go back to our dorms for the day, no harm done.” Neville said, trying to reassure himself more than anything.

Slowly, Ginny pulled out her wand. She looked at Neville, still unsure.   
“What are you wanting me to do, professor?”

“A quick crucio ought to be enough!” Amycus said cheerfully, leaning back on his desk and watching the pair with interest.

“But that's an unforgivable!” Ginny started, but the calm smile and nod Neville gave her allowed herself to take a deep breath. After what felt like forever, Ginny finally muttered, “Crucio.”

Neville fell to the ground instantly, writhing and twisting around. Shocked, Ginny lowered her wand, cutting off the spell.

“No, no, no. That just won't do. You have to mean it, miss Weasley. That was nowhere close to a punishment.” Amycus said, frowning slightly.

From the ground Neville seemed to determinedly brace himself, giving Ginny another nod. “Just get it over with, Gin.”

Squaring her shoulders, Ginny once again pointed her wand at Neville. She thought about how much she resented Harry, her brother and Hermione, how much she hated Snape and the Carrows, how much Neville has been annoying her lately.. She let all of that build up until her arm was trembling. With more feeling, she shouted, “Crucio!”

That one worked, Neville instantly started screaming, his body bending in odd angles. Ginny watched transfixed as he clamped his eyes closed tight, his mouth strained open from the constant stream of screaming he was releasing. She closed her eyes, drinking in the sheer power flowing around her. She caused this, and it felt so right. As she felt out her magic, she could feel a pull from the darkness, eager for her to keep channeling the spell. She stood there listening to the screaming caused from her own magic, all she could feel was pure power. She was much more powerful than she thought possible, why hadn't she used dark magic sooner?

She was so far in her head that she hadn't heard Amycus excuse himself. Her whole awareness was on the darkness spreading around her. She decided that she never wanted to lose this feeling, the feeling felt so good, as if a missing piece to her puzzle had finally put itself right. It was intoxicating. She was drowning in the darkness with no way out, not that she thought she wanted out.

“Weasley.”

A quiet voice, so quiet that it was easy to ignore. Ginny kept standing there, basking in the warm glow of magic as Neville kept writhing and screaming in front of her. 

“Ginerva. Focus. This isn't what you want.”   
The quiet voice said, more insistent this time.

Wasn't it though? Didn't she want this power that felt so good? She decided she might at least try to focus. Slowly, her awareness increased. It hit her like a slap in the face, she was torturing Neville. He was screaming. He was in pain, and she was letting it happen. Startled, she dropped her wand, her eyes going wide. The spell stopped as soon as the wand left her hand, but he was still screaming. She was about to kneel next to Neville to check on him, when a pale hand held her wand out to her.

“I believe you dropped this, Weasley.” Draco said, his face carefully blank.

Taking her wand, she almost wanted to turn it on Draco. How dare he interrupt her? She was feeling good until he brought her back. Couldn't she stay in unaware bliss? Part of her wanted to believe that, but really, she should be thankful. If he hadn't interrupted, who knew what'd happen to Neville. Not sure what to say, she went with a simple, “Thanks, Malfoy.”

They both knew it was more than just a thanks for the wand, if he didn't come out, she'd be in a lot deeper than she already was.   
“Don't mention it.” He said seriously. “May I? Amycus will be back any minute, if it looks like we're not doing anything we'll all be punished.”

Not needing to be asked twice, Ginny nodded. She watched as Draco leaned down to check on Neville, grateful he was making sure her friend was okay.

“I won't hurt you, but you need to look like you're in pain, sorry for this, Longbottom.” Draco said quietly, pointing his wand at Neville.   
“I hope you forgive me one day. Imperio.”

Astonished that Draco was using an unforgivable, she opened her mouth to protest when he held up a hand. Ginny watched where he was watching, as Neville became limp. When that's all he did, Ginny once again looked at Draco, who was frowning in concentration. 

“Quit fighting it, Longbottom, you'll get us all punished more.” Draco kept his focus on Neville, occasionally glancing towards the door where Amycus went through just a few minutes earlier.

Suddenly, Neville started screaming again. Ginny looked at him in alarm, then back at Draco. Feeling guilty for her part already, she pointed her wand at him.

“None of that, Ginerva. He's not in any pain. I've cast an imperious on him so it looks like he's still under the cruciatus curse. Clever, isn't it?” Draco said, still not looking her way.

Accepting this, she decided to drop the topic. She started thinking about how it felt to cast the curse, while it felt good, at the time she didn't feel like she was doing anything wrong. That itself, was definitely wrong. It shouldn't feel so good to bring pain to someone. Overridden with guilt, Ginny pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. She had a lot to make up for, she only hoped that Neville could forgive her.

“What is this?” Amycus said, entering the classroom.

“Weasley was hogging all the fun, professor. Thought I'd give it a go.” Draco replied smoothly, not breaking his focus even for a second.

“Very good Draco, you never participate!” Amycus exclaimed, his tone full of excitement. “Better help Longbottom up to the hospital wing, he'll probably need to stay the night! You're all dismissed!” With that, Amycus left the room without a backwards glance.

With a flick of his wand, Draco ended the imperius. He crouched down in front of Neville, holding out a hand. “Alright there, Longbottom?” He asked as Neville took the offered hand, sitting up slowly.

“I believe so, pretty sore though.. don't reckon I need to go to the hospital wing, I'm fine.” Neville said, his voice raspy. He glanced up at Ginny, his eyes widening when he noticed she was tearing up. “You okay, Ginny?”

“Am I okay?” Ginny shouted, bewildered. “Of course I'm not okay! I… I tortured you, Neville! And you're acting like everything is fine!” She dropped down beside him, letting the tears fall without stopping them.   
“I'm a terrible person, how can you sit here and forgive me just like that?”

“Well I suppose the same way you'll forgive me, yeah?” Neville asked. When Ginny started to speak Neville stopped her. Pointing his wand at her he said, “Obliviate.”

Instantly, Ginny stopped crying. She seemed confused, looking around at where they were.   
“Why are we on the floor, and why is Malfoy here?” Ginny asked suspiciously.

“I fell, you know me Ginny. Help me up, will you?”   
As Ginny helped him up, Neville looked over at Draco. “Thank you, by the way, for everything.”

“Take care.” Was all Draco replied, as he watched them walk away. Perhaps that was for the best. Shaking his head, Draco went to his desk and started gathering up his things. 

“Where are we going?” Ginny asked, her arm slung through Neville’s to support him.

“I was thinking the Gryffindor dorms? Want to play a game of chess?” Neville asked, knowing Ginny loved competition.

“Fine, but I always win.” Ginny smirked and quickened their pace slightly. ‘Maybe change is overrated, sometimes normal can be good’, she thought as they headed up towards the Gryffindor tower.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think of it?


End file.
